The Study On Guange Literati Group In Yuan Dynasty And The Retro Tendency Of Calligraphy

Guange literati group in Yuan Dynasty refers to a literati group who served in cultural institutions such as the Imperial Academy,Jixianyuan,Mishujian,Guozijian,Kuizhangge and Xuanwenge.The ruling class in Yuan Dynasty was minority.Under the special political environment,a group of literati elites from various nationalities gathered together in Guange institutions.Gradually,They turned out to be the leaders of culture and arts,the main sponsors and drivers of back-to-the-ancients tendency,and furthermore,the main force of calligraphy development.The paper takes Guange literati group as main research object,analyzes the important role they played in the developing process of Back-to-the-ancients tendency of calligraphy in Yuan Dynasty,and accordingly,reflects the real development history of calligraphy in that time.Six chapters are included in the paper.Chapter one traces the role Guange literati played back to pre-Yuan Dynasties,indicates that Guange literati group,with their special status and extraordinary calligraphy achievements,represented the official aesthetic tendency,led the calligraphy tendency of the day,and thus played a significant role in the developing process of calligraphy.Chapter two analyzes the framework and functions of Guange institutions and the constitution of literati group.Literati group is a mixture of intellectuals from various nationalities and cultural forms which can alleviate the ethnic contradictions and harmonize social relationships.As the spirit leaders from various nationalities,they were the leading force and sign in cultural and artistic development in those days.In Chapter three,by studying the calligraphy achievements accomplished by northern literati group and their ideology,we points out that Guange literati group from northern China had showed explicit retro tendency in their calligraphy creation and ideas at the beginning of Yuan Dynasty,which happened to coincide with literati group from southern China and established the foundation for all-round retro of calligraphy in the middle and late period of Yuan Dynasty.In the fourth chapter,according to the study on the establishment of the literati group's political status and the process of integration of literati from north and south,we analyzes the concrete manifestations and differences of back-to-the-ancient trend of calligraphy in different periods of Yuan,reviews the developing process of the trend from its rise to endurance.And then,we probes deeply into the retro thoughts and practice of literati group from each periods.It is the specific group existed in those days who played a significant role in keeping the back-to-theancient trend of calligraphy flourishing from early to late and the tendency remain unchanged for more than ninety years.Chapter five is a reflection on the influence and consequence brought about by the retro trend discussed in the former chapters,which includes the reflection on the role played by Yan Zhenqing's Calligraphy,the rethinking on the thought advocated the techniques of calligraphy should be practiced and skillful and on the negative effects of Zhao Mengfu's calligraphy.Chapter Six explores specifically the appreciation and collection of calligraphy.We take Wang Yun,Yuan Jue and Ke Jiusi as examples to discuss the calligraphy appreciation and collection achievements accomplished by Guange literati and analyze its value and function in back-to-the-ancient tendency of calligraphy.